Endless Hunger

It is a PBW game. The real reason I have recently avoided attacking the first enemy is that he went on a business trip and it would be unfair to attack him while he is away, although he is actually overdue from returning. The second enemy is another player who also said he'd wait although he seems to think the absent guy won't be returning.

The Arachnids are from two of my favourite books, In Death Ground, and The Shiva Option. Anyone familiar with Starfire will know them. I've wanted to play with them for awhile.

http://www.starfiredesign.com/starfire/encyclopedia/arachnid.html

Well thankyou. I don't know how long it'll last. Last time I played a similar race 3 neighbours ganged up on me as soon as possible since when a body has cancer you blast it with radiation before it grows so big it consumes everything.

Yes, a rather startling one. I meant to write a story tonight but I haven't had time. I'll try tomorrow.

For your added interest, a sketch I did of what I figure an Arachnid looks like

As for further story, I'm a bit laid low at the moment.

Unbeknownst to the Arachnids The Enemy attempted to communicate. A hive mind it had no need to communicate amongst itself and no means to communicate with others, so it would never realise The Enemy attempted communication. Even if communication was possible the Arachnids wouldn't care anyway, all that mattered was to exterminate threats, and all other life was a threat.

The Arachnids continued to grow, all the time observing the movements of The Enemy. Clearly The Enemy did not appreciate the danger as they continued to move through local space, another enemy colony ship flying past an Arachnid colony. Perhaps the lack of action by the Arachnids lulled The Enemy into ignoring any potential threat. This was good for they would not be prepared. the lack of action wasn't from lack of intent, it just took awhile to organise a response.

The target of the enemy colony vessel was easily determined, a planet only one orbit from the Arachnid colony. Even as The Enemy passed by Gunboats were launched from the surface. Following the enemy ship's flight path they arrived soon after it landed. For The Enemy the planet was almost perfect, the atmosphere was compatible, the conditions were good. The Arachnids never gave a thought to what the newly arrived colonists might have been doing, all that mattered was that no defences were in place. Unopposed they bombarded the surface destroying over 30 million of The Enemy. The work done the Arachnids did feel some regret. Such a large amount of livestock could have been useful to feed the Arachnid colonies of the system but time did not allow for an invasion to be mobilised before The Enemy built defences, and unfortunately another colony ship of The Enemy was observed passing by. The same response was the only available option.

The enemy colony ship continued on observed. The destruction of the enemy colony had removed a threat but it had been a reaction at a time when resources could not be diverted to a more useful strategy. Now efforts could be planned to react with more advantageous tactics. The enemy ship occasionally avoided detection but as it flew further into Arachnid space it was picked up by Arachnid traffic. An Arachnid gunboat wave almost ran across it, and the hivemind had to resist their natural urge to destroy the intruder. The enemy colony ship next appeared in the adjoining system as an Arachnid colony vessel encountered it. Unarmed it withdrew but enoucntered The Enemy again soon after. The enemy ship was lost again but presumed to be heading for a nearby world. Nearby gunboats were ordered to observe it, but the hive mind was surprised when the ship instead attempted entry of yet another nearby system. The movement was illogical for travelling by a different route from the start would have been quicker. This time the hive mind could not interupt as the defending gunboats fell upon the intruder, destroying it.

The Arachnids had expanded in pursuit of The Enemy colony ship, that which had shown The Enemy to exist, but it had seemingly vanished. The Arachnids had colonised all available planets in the system the Enemy had entered but no colonies were found. It was possible, however unlikely, The Enemy colony was on the fringes of the system for the Arachnid ships that had pursued The Enemy had not explored those fringes. More likely it had passed though the remaining warp point in this system, if so it was stranded with the Arachnid realm between it and its original home. The Arachnids did not make a habit to pass through every warp point they found for there was always the possibility of new enemy to discover them. With the Enemy ship missing, and reconnaisance gunboats exploring the system fringe, it was the only remaining option.

An Arachnid ship passed through the Warp point and scanned for The Enemy. It detected The Enemy colony immediately. What it also detected were a New Enemy. Several swarms of their small craft were attacking the planet. The Arachnid ship was not prepared to attack them and so it withdrew. Now there were two enemy to deal with.

Space bent and folded. Flashes of amber light erupted as the hole in space opened. Slowly a massive hull slipped forth into the system. Close to half a million tons it dwarfed any other ship known. Warships of this era were small, sleek. Faster than this ship they also had to devote a larger percentage to engines. This ships wasn't built to fight. A colony ship, its hold was full of millions of breeders, and the equipment to begin the colonisation of an entire planet. But in this case colonising was secondary.

The Hive had nearly completed the colonisation of every available planet it had found. The Enemy's entry point had been thoroughly blockaded, ready to destroy any further intrusions, but the Hive was not prepared to just sit back and sit on the defensive. It knew where The Enemy was and so knew where to find, and destroy, it. No other option was imaginable.

It stood to reason that the Enemy would defend what was surmised to be its home system. No doubt many units would be waiting to destroy any attack. The Hive must know what awaited it though, and so a colony ship was sent through. If The Enemy was waiting they would most probably destroy the ship but its survival was secondary. It would find out what was there, maybe get a look at The Enemy system. The next wave would know how many ships of The Enemy there were and following standard procedure mass a force of such sufficient strength it would annihilate all opposition.

The Colony ship finished entry. It would take a few seconds to reset its sensors and any other race would sit in anticipation perhaps at any second to be destroyed as it sat helpless, but the crew continued to crawl amongst themselves powering up the ships systems with no thought for their survival, only to obey comamnds. No sudden death or violent explosions were forthcoming though, and the reason soon became clear. The warp point at this end was of the sort that blocked sensors. The Hive had seen the type before but had not imagined it would apply here. In retrospect there was no reason it shouldn't, but the Hive was not predisposed to flights of imagination. The Enemy could have sat all its forces on the WP, they could hang in space next to the Colony ship, and neither side would know. Perhaps, as stronger short ranged sensors showed, this was the reason why no Enemy forces were waiting. In that case forces could be placed just outside the area of the WP to stop any ships from delving further once they entered, but as the sensors reached outwards no such force was seen.

Scans were made of the system, and gradually a number of things became clear. Naturally the local star was the first thing to be seen, a solitary red dwarf. Next nearby planets would be detected. There were none, or at least none presently within range. Further exploration would undoubtedly discover them. The third fact to become apparent was the most startling. Unless they sat extremely close together the exact location of warp points were not apparent when entering a new system, but even if not seen their effect on the local system would be clear and their general position determined. There were none. This system, that which had been determined to be The Enemy home system, now verified as there was no other place The Enemy ships oculd have originated, had no Warp points besides the one the ship had just transitted, and that one was undefensible. The news was sent back by message pod before the ship proceeded further, its mission extended to find out as much about the system, before it was either destroyed, or the inevitable assault followed.

The colony ship continued on, even as it headed into the system an Enemy colony ship approached. It was not the Arachnid ship's role to fight and so it let The Enemy pass. There could be only one direction it was heading and the blockade on the other side would deal with it. The Arachnid ship soon found the Enemy Homeworld. It was one part of three planets orbiting together. Two were occupied by The Enemy, but the third was uninhabited. Sensors showed that the second planet was garrisoned by small craft and soldiers but if the colony ship could land it could establish a base and a fortified position to take the nearby planets. the colony ship landed, detecting a fourth, and colonisable, planet as it landed. The first order was to set up the stored equipment that allowed new colonies to build new small craft to defend the new colony. As the new colony was established The Enemy constructed yet another colony ship which also departed, but no action was taken against the new colony itself.

The first Enemy colony ship attempted to leave its home system. The swarms of small craft blockading the WP had been warned by a message pod. When The Enemy ship appeared it barely had time to see what awaited it, the period between its appearance and its inevitable destruction being a mere five seconds.

As these events occurred, matters elsewhere changed. The Hive had become aware of a New Enemy when it observed it attacking an Enemy colony in a new system. The ship that detected them withdraw and many small craft were dispatched to guard the WP. The intelligences that ran the Hive realised there was a second entry point, unexplored, but doubtlessly leading also to the New Enemy. This entry point was also protected. Nothing more was seen of the New Enemy until they suddenly attempted entry via the second WP. Their scout ship sufferred the fate of all ships attempting to break though a WP held by Arachnid small craft. It barely managed to launch any of its own small craft before it fell prey to the gunboats. This left a squadron of gunboats holding the WP against a handful of Enemy fighters they were not equipped to combat. There was a further complication, the Enemy ship had been destroyed before most of its stored fighters could launch but unexpectedly those fighters left floating amongst the wreckage of their carrier powered up and attacked along with the ones already launched. The gunboats were not prepared to fight them and only the arrival of reinforcements prevented the loss of the WP. At the first WP the enemy attempted another entry, this time with a colony vessel. This one was destroyed even quicker than the other, not managing to launch any fighters, but yet again as the wreckage cooled its cargo powered up and appeared. There were twice as many enemy craft but this time it was they who were not prepared to fight other small craft.

This new direction of attack required the recall of some of those craft blockading the Old Enemy and so when their second colony ship attempted entry the defences were weakened. The Enemy managed to withstand the inevitable for twice as long as the first did.

The Enemy had been pursuing the gunboats left at the second WP, which had no option but to evade combat, but as another Enemy colony ship appeared most of them turned to attack. Some small craft however turned and set ramming courses for the Enemy fighters. Taken by surprise they attempted to evade but were struck head on, destroying half of them. The newly arrived ship held reinforcements. The gunboats headed for the Enemy ship heedless of losses but were gradually destroyed. The Enemy were left in control of the WP, but if they were capable of celebrating their victory it was to be short lived. Howling from in system, more Arachnid reinforcements arrived. There was no subtlty in Arachnid tactics, there was to be no dogfighting beloved by those races with a feeling of romanticism. It had been long decided that the losses ineviatble from a prolonged engagement would be worse than merely expending small craft to best effect. The Newly arrived Arachnid assault boats aimed without pause for the Enemy. Each Assault boat could catch and ram two, maybe three, enemy craft, and they did, not pausing as they expended themselves, and in the end those Enemy craft which had only so recently emerged victorious were annihilated for minimal losses. There only remained now the Enemy gunboats, now defenceless and fleeing.

In the second system, there was not so much anticipation as expectation that the massed Assault boats would quickly destroy the Enemy intuders, but it was not to be. Clearly aware of their practically non existant chances of surviving, the Enemy small craft turned and proceeded into the system. Although clearly not planned, and by one of those quirks of fate that appear almost constantly in battle, they ran across an empty carrier approaching the WP. Defenceless, it quickly fell prey to the Enemy before they vanished into the darkness of the system.

In the first system the Assault boats caught and relentlessly destroyed the enemy gunboats before turning back as another Enemy colony ship appeared. the Enemy ship launched its fighters and bore down on the Assualt boats, but as they approached each other the enemy fighters turned back, now intent on the Arachnid gunboats approaching from the rear. Undefended the Enemy ship weathered a rain of attacks as the Assault boats expended themselves on it. The Arachnid gunboats did not manage to reach the enemy ship before it limped to safety, damaged, and a few were lost as the ship left behind its fighters, but at the end the conmparison of losses held a small advantage to the Arachnid defenders. As long as they were expended usefully it matterred not what losses there were. Further craft could always be built.

The Enemy held the WP, though not uncontested, the Enemy colony ship was beginning to explore the system, and a packed Arachnid carrier was bearing down on it.

In the first system The New Enemy colony ship saw, too late, the carrier appear. It had left its fighters at the WP, and turned to flee. Undefended it was quickly run down and destroyed by 5 gunboats. The 18 enemy small craft at the WP left the Arachnid defenders and went to intercept the carrier. The carrier spent 5 assault boats to delay them. They only managed to destroy two but it gave the carrier and its gunboats enough time to flee. The Enemy craft gave chase but were unable to catch up. They attacked with a final volley at extreme range, only managing to graze a gunboat before they turned back to the WP. Arriving back they then proceeded to destroy the Arachnid remanants that had held the WP for several days. Nearly half the remannts were damaged, the sole assault boat nothing more than a floating wreck, but as always the gunboats spent themselves rather than play victim, destroying one of their attackers.

In the second system The New Enemy launched no more attacks via the WP, now firmly under the control of the Arachnids. The fighters that had previously broken through matched almost the exact number seen attacking the Old Enemy when first they had been encountered. Perhaps the New Enemy had no more forces available on the other side. This would be good. Those fighters had however fled into the system, and although they were soon lost it did not take much consideration to plot their route. Warp points were easy to detect and their rough position easy to determine, if not the exact sector. The New Enemy small craft were clearly heading in their direction, and so Assault boats were sent to intercept them once they arrived.

The New Enemy arrived at one WP, perhaps with plans to prevent reinforcements from free entry. They took up position surrounding the entry/exit point, but their blockade was brief. Arachnid Assault boats penetrated unnoticed until they were point blank. They then launched their attack. The New Enemy outnumbered the Assault squadron 2 to 1, but was ill prepared to fight other small craft. Their first notice of the Arachnid presence was as their escort fighters were destroyed. The now defenceless attack craft broke and fled, all semblance of formation lost. One by one small groups of Assault craft caught and destroyed them. In the end for the destruction of 41 Enemy small craft the Arachnids lost a mere 2, a lucky volley at the beginning catching an accompanying gunboat, and 1 Assault boat spent during the massacre.Only a handful emerged unscathed, the rest bearing grevious wounds on their reinforced armour, but they survived. they could be repaired. Unlike the annihilated Enemy force.

The New Enemy now held only one warp point. A handful of their craft held the warp point from which they had first encountered the Hive, but as they waited Arachnid forces approached. The nearby carrier withdraw to rendezvous with several swarms of gunboats and assault boats. The New Enemy's sensor technology was not as advanced as the Hive's, and in any case the sensors on small craft were incapable of detecting anything further than a sector, but it was best to protect the carrier. Once they had rendezvoused the combined force attacked the warp point. Outnumbered 4 to 1 and stranded, the Enemy attempted to fight back but were destroyed for the loss of two craft. Although at first glance it seemed to be no better than the previous massacre of the Enemy, and with better numbers, this time there were no craft left with significant damage. The force took up a defensive position around the warp point.

In the second system, the Hive had swarmed the warp point awaiting any further attacks. None were forthcoming. For another month the New Enemy took no action. It was possible the New Enemy had spent all their available forces. The Hive debated whether it should stay on the defensive or attack. Only on rare occasions, such as that with the Old Enemy, was there a reason not to act, and so the Hive attacked though the Enemy warp point.

An assault carrier was headed towards the warp point. Rather than slow to take on small craft, and delay the attack, it headed straight for the warp point. Gunboats and Assault boats moved alongside, attempting to hook on to external hard points and be transported. The carrier itself could scan the area once it went through, whether it survived or not, but only small craft could combat what would undoubtedly be strong defences. Tragedy struck however as gravitic surges from the warp point cause turbulence, throwing off the small craft. The carrier was unable to halt and broke through the warp point, empty.

There were a number of unexpected elements to the New Enemy's defence of this system, and the system itself. The first thing to become apparent was that the system only held a star and scatterred asteroids. There was a minor planet nearby, unbeknownst to the Arachnids dubbed Hells gateway, they would be incapable of appreciating it even if they knew, but most likely there would be no greater planets, although the possibility could not be ruled out. If limited to the production of one small colony the defences could not grow to a level capable of fighting off an assault, and reinforcements would need to be carried in via a long supply line, although the length could not be estimated as yet. For the defences themselves there were only a handful of small craft which moved to attack. Bereft of small craft the carrier could not fight back, but as it was hounded and eventually worn down it continued to send information back to the Hive. Perhaps most significant were the Enemy tactics. The Enemy's new small craft were as armoured as any of the Arachnid assault boats. they still carried direct fire weapons but were slower, half the engine base replaced with armour. Under normal circumstance the carrier could have easily outrun them, but having appeared in amongst the defenders and under rapid fire its engines were eventually dissabled some distance from the warp point. It was at this point the Enemy's tactics changed. As they attacked in the past the Enemy had seemed strangely reluctant to expend small craft to best effect, apparently attempting to preserve them even when they were doomed. Perhaps experience had shown the weakness inherent in such an attitude for having caught up with the carrier the Enemy proceeded to ram the ship. This was something the Hive would not think twice about doing but it was new for the Enemy. Of the 6 defending small craft, 2 were destroyed and 1 immobilised as they rammed. The ship was destroyed but not before dispatching a message pod warning of these new tactics and including the rough position of 4 further warp points leaving the system.

by the way, I can't stand leaving mistakes, so when I noticed one in part 2 I fixed it, only to discover it was moved to the last position. I suppose technically an edited part is the latest post. Anyway, I had to move everything from then on for them to be in order.

Taylor Smith twisted and turned, trying to desperately ease the discomfort he felt wearing the unfamilar armour and helmet he had been issued. He looked to either side, down the line of barricades, manned by equally discomforted drafted troops. No one seeemd to know what was happening. He had asked several of the other impromptu defenders if they knew what was going on, but no one could answer his questions. Taylor was an Aeroponics engineer, included among the first colonists because he could help guide the growth of crops to feed the newly founded colony. Before the departure from Homeworld there had been reports of strange events in space. Several planets in the Home system had been inexplicably deemed off limits. People had tried to discover the reason for the restrictions but the government always told those with questions that the orders were for the people's benefit. By this stage Taylor had been placed among the crew of one of the new colony ships. Other colony ships had been launched before, although no one heard of them anymore. Again the government said there was nothing to worry about. Taylor had some misgivings but among the excitement of moving to another planet he had put them aside. Still, the passengers on board the colony ship had found it strange they had not been allowed to see the space outside their ship as it made its journey.

The ship had arrived at the colony. Apart from its size, Taylor found it hard to figure out why this planet had been chosen. The atmosphere was not conducive to healthy living, but nevertheless Taylor took to his work, organising the farms inside the giant domes that comprised the colony. In the month they had been here the colony had worked hard to set the dome up. Taylor himself was still exhausted from the toil of planting the intiital crops in the vast Aeroponics bays. He had expected to finish work last night, go home to his family, and get some rest, but instead he, along with much of the rest of the colony had been collected, distributed ill-fitting equipment and formed into an impromptu militia. Who could there possibly be to defend against? The planet had been empty when they arrived.

Stationed outside the Dome, the militia's equipment included breathing apparatus. Taylor wiped some of the condensation off his mask and looked up into the sky. It was an adventure developing a new planet but he couldn't imagine ever getting used to the strange blue sky, and its white clouds of condensation. Nothing like the comforting pink and orange of home. As he peered up he noticed dark flecks. Looking about he realised he wasn't the only one. Other militia members were also pointing up into the sky, and congregating in close groups. Looking back up, Taylor saw the objects were coming closer. Seemingly aiming for the colony.

"What are those?" Someone close by asked. Taylor had no idea.

The militia waited as the shapes closed in. Eventually several officials exited the dome and began issuing orders. Taylor, along with several others was told to man a small gun nest. What was happening?. He, and the rest of his crew sat and watched. As the darkness moved closer Taylor began to make out their shape. There were hundreds of small craft. Like the ship that had brought him, and the others here, but smaller. Their design was completely alien. Surely the government would have told everyone if there were aliens.

The colony had no heavy armaments available, and so the alien craft moved in without opposition. The colony hadn't existed long enough to build any facilities, and no defences had been brought, apart from the small arms the militia was issued. Eventually the small craft arrived. Dark, seemingly organic, the first one landed on the outskirts of the colony. The nearest group, led on by some official, opened fire, their weapons ricocheting off the hull, leaving long dents and scratches. Then a long gantry descended. Taylor tried to get a better view as it opened. He recoiled in horror as its occupants appeared.

Hundreds, then thousands of completely alien creatures swarmed out. They were like nothing except huge alien spiders. Arachnids. As Taylor watched, the creatures swarmed over the nearest group of militia. Taylor could see the men there desperately fighting back, but faced with the number of Arachnids they stood no chance. Taylor watched on helpless as men were blasted, the alien weapons outgunning the militia's substantially, or else torn apart. Taylor looked on in horror as some men, gravely wounded, were swept up and devoured alive. The alien ships were still arriving. the first ship seemingly contained thousands of the bugs, and there were hundreds of small craft. Taylor realised the colony was doomed, There must be millions of the invaders. There were millions of colonists, perhaps more than the invaders, but the large majority were civilians. So was Taylor for that matter, but only a small percentage were fit as militia. The "bugs" must outnumber the defenders by at least 10 to 1, if not more. There was no hope. Nonetheless he joined in as many opened fire, as more craft landed nearby.

The fight was completely one sided, more symbolic than effective. A statement that though they might lose they would not die without a fight. Taylor continued to fire even as a swarm headed towards him. Bugs fell, but the defence was useless. There was just no way they could be stopped. The last thought Taylor had, as an Arachnid reared up before him, was that his family would not suffer too long. Then the darkness fell on him.

The local mind surveyed the remains of the colony. The Hive had easily destroyed the armed enemy, taking only minor damage. The vast majority of the warriors did not even arrive until after the defenders were crushed. Breaking into the Enemy dome they rampaged through , gathering up the occupants. Control over the occasional warrior was lost, the lure of the Enemy young in some cases being too much, but mostly the Enemy were dragged out and collected. It was not economical to devour them all when they could be used as stock. Instead they would be housed elsewhere in ranches, allowed to grow, in future more young would be born as the new livestock became used to their new life. Hive elements were already arriving to occupy the colony, and they would need a steady supply of food.

OC: In the original novels from whence my empire is derived, the humans are in normal type and the occasional insight into the Arachnids is in italics. Since this narrative will mostly be from the Arachnids point of view, the occasional derivation to the enemy will be in italics.

The New Enemy were annoying. If Arachnids were capable of being stressed then the New Enemy would have brought on such feelings. There were two access points from the New Enemy's space. One was a system of Asteroids with at least one small colony, the unknowingly named Hell's gate, and the other was the residence of a blue giant. This system had at least two planets, one being a gas giant named Last Hope point. Whether it had been named by the Old Enemy, whose colony it had orginally been, or the New Enemy who had conquered it, would not have mattered to the Arachnids even if they were capable of knowing such a thing. The battles between the Hive and the New Enemy had been going back and forth now for nearly a year. Recently the New Enemy's attacks had stopped after the defeat of their last attack. It was possible they had depleted their forces and so an attack was launched. In case they hadn't, only a small force, less than 40 small craft, was ferried through the warp point. The New Enemy had not depeleted its force, instead the the warp point was defended as heavily as the Hive did at its end., and the carrier was destroyed quickly. This left its cargo floating in space. The assorted gunboats and assault craft gradually drifted away from the warp point until they were at such a distance as to avoid the Enemy sensors when they powered up. Safe, they started their engines and fled the Warp point. They headed directly for the Enemy Gas giant. As they approached they scanned the planet, making a record of its faciltiites and defences. This seemed to be a substantial colony. As they neared the Enemy launched fighters. These were quickly defeated, and then the assault boats, left without any more targets, screamed down to the surface, impacting the surface and causing major damage as their fuel supplies ignited. The accompanying gunboats added to the damage by launching waves of rockets at the surface. With their ordinance expended they turned and withdrew, but continued a long range observation of the colony. Eventually a colony ship arrived, and as it did it launched new fighters. the gunboats continued to scan them as they attacked. A new design, they were a development of the New Enemy's tactic to copy the Hive's assault craft. Even more heavily armoured, and with faster engines they caught up and destroyed the gunboats but not before they sent back the information.

The Hive studied this new information, and immediately considered countermeasures. There was not enough time to develop them, let alone implement them, before the New Enemy attacked again. In a series of moves that was becoming the rule, one side would attempt to penetrate the WP, the enemy would destroy it then respond with its own attack which would also be destroyed, each side leaving adequate defences in case of a failure of their attack. Just as the New Enemy had taken to using assault boats, so the Hive now made use of small craft wielding weapons to attack from a distance. Assault craft worked when they were uenxpected and the Enemy incapable of outrunning them, but ranged fire on ships capable of outrunning an assault were an adequate defence. As ever the Enemy small craft that survived the initial attack expended themselves on the defence craft. the defenders were succesful, and considering the rapid devleopment of the New Enemy's technology, served well with about equal losses, either in craft lost or damaged. Wreckage from the faield attack was studied, in an attempt to gain some knowledge of the technology used. Certain elements did not match the New Enemy's technology. Could there possibly be a third Enemy, one that shared information with the second Enemy? The Hive could not win a battle of attrition, the strength of the Second Enemy was quickly becoming apparent, and so it turned to the Old Enemy.

Defending the access to the New Enemy as much as possible, resources were devoted to dealing with the Old Enemy. It weakened the defences somewhat but resources gained from the Old Enemy would feed the defence against the New. Instead of destroying offhand the Old enemy's colony ships they were allowed to leave their home system. Only once the Enemy settled a planet would the ship following it move in and conquer the New Enemy. It was a successful strategy, already the Hive had gained use of several planets, and much livestock, and apart from any unexpected changes there was no reason to doubt it would continue to work in future. The Hive also moved into the Old Enemy's home system. Further colonies of theirs were found and plans developed to conquer them. They were heavily defended and so forces were needed from the colonies already established in the system.

Then came the annoyance from the New Enemy. Already strange events had occurred. The crew of a space station had been moved. The precise qualities of the crew did not match the hatching that should be there. Any Arachnid was as capable of any other of carrying out work and so its effect was irrelevant, not to say a waste of time. Now as a troopship waited for other craft to join it, its fuel tanks opened and nearly emptied before they were closed again. It would not inconvenience the ship immediately but it was a a mystery how it could occur. Every mind in the Hive worked together, mistakes just didn't happen, and the "accident" area gave a slight sense of the New Enemy. Confusing. Until the Old Enemy was finished, the Hive would need to make more effort to prevent such incidences. then it could deal with the New Enemy.

It had been months since an open attack by the New Enemy, but since the idea of peace while an Enemy lived was inconceivable, the Hive waited. So when the New Enemy did launch an attack the defences were ready. Despite the fighting with the Old Enemy, whose worlds were being conquered one by one, priority was given to the New Enemy and the defences had grown. As many times before a colony vessel materialised at the Warp point, and as many times before it was quickly destroyed. The New Enemy's cargo jettisoned even as the wreckage dissipated. The defenders outnumbered the intruders by a factor of 4 to 1. The defenders closed in on the Enemy, waiting for them to power up so that sensors could lock on to them. The Enemy's technology was growing, but the Hive knew that it would prevail, as it had many times before, by the application of brute force. The Hive had for some time realised that it had too many gunboats in the defence force, only a few were needed to destroy the helpless carrier vessels and after that they were not equipped to combat the survivors. It was logical to expend some of them, they were not needed and they could help to cut down the attacking numbers. Some gunboats were left, but many were directed to expend themselves.

The defenders flew about the warp point prepared to attack when the warp point began to pulse. As the defenders thought on whether to destroy the dropped small craft or combat the new attack the floating small craft took the opportunity to flee. With their first target no longer available the defenders turned back to the warp point.

A vast craft appeared through the warp point. Larger than anything yet seen, nearly half the hull was comprised of vast claddings of armour, and the rest of the ship was large fighter bays, and point defence. With so much hull space devoted to protection and attack, speed had been sacrificed and the ship wallowed slowly from the warp point, accompanied by two dwarfed escort frigates. An Assault carrier. The Enemy carrier had barely appeared before it sufferred a wave of fire from the nearby gunboats. Half of its armour was stripped off, and one of the escorts destroyed, within seconds. the carrier continued on but it had barely cleared the warp point before it was crippled. The remaining escort continued but met by waves of assult boats unheeding of their own survival it was destroyed. The remaining defenders then turned back and destroyed the helpless carrier. There were substantial losses, either destroyed by the attackers defences or through expenditure but the failure and loss of such a large force, the invaders loss in tonange twice the defenders, must be a substantial blow. In the brief battle only a few enemy craft had been launched, and destroyed, and the capacity of the carrier, along with its escorts small craft ability, was huge. The defenders waited for the inevitable numbers of small craft left, but were surprised at just how few there were. Even with the substantial losses the defenders still outnumbered the survivors 4 to 1, instead of the expected parity. The Enemy had either lost many small craft, trapped upon their carrier, or the Enemy had attacked without even a full load. A waste of potential for such a large ship.

There still existed the first attack, whose survivors had slipped away, but reinforcements were already on their way and could intercept the Enemy small craft. They might gather intelligence, but the further they penetrated the more fuel they spent, and they had no means of escape.

As the battles with them continued it was becoming apparent that the New Enemy, however their minds worked, were not hindered by what could be considered innovative thought. It was clear they were rapidly advancing in technology, even that showed evidence of outside help, and they appeared to throw in as many craft as possible to overwhelm the defences, a tactic the Hive would do in their place, but when they did manage to break through their intent was blatantly clear. The first small craft to penetrate the defences many months before had disappeared on a course clearly heading for the warp points on the other side of the system. Those craft had been intercepted and destroyed for minimal loss. Now 40 small craft had fled as the defenders turned on the second wave and its Assault carrier and escorts. Their flight had been watched until they fell off sensors, but their failure to reappear could only mean one thing. They intended to yet again head for another warp point. So a carrier entering the system moved to intercept. Without even seeing them the ship uneeringly caught the Enemy. Well short of their destination the Enemy had exhausted their supplies. In a way it was fortuitous, if they had stayed and fought when they entered the sytem they could have done appreciable damage, perhaps delayed the destruction of their follow up assault. Now helpless, they offerred no resistance. It could not even be called a battle, for a battle implied a stuggle between two sides. This was a massacre.

The Carrier detected the Enemy craft and turned, at the same time launching its own small craft. The Enemy desperately attempted to defend themselves but their fighters could do no more than drift. The attacking small craft did not even bother with them, swooping past on a heading for the equally helpless gunboats. Only once they were destroyed in whole did further waves attack the escort craft. The only reason the Hive took losses was that the assault craft had no other means to attack.

At their original entry point the New Enemy continued to attack. This was clearly no test but a concerted campaign. Ship after ship attempted to break through, but each time they were destroyed, then their cargo hunted down and destroyed before they could escape. Each wave was destroyed but as the battles raged on the defenders became disorganised. Ending well away from the warp point as they destroyed Enemy small craft the gunboats could not react swiftly, and as more Enemy ships arrived they survived longer. In a way it was helpful as the Enemy launched solitary craft, easily destroyed, rather than leave them to survive en masse. The Hive had emplaced satellites in an effort to wear down the Enemy. With the defending gunboats far away as yet another Enemy ship arrived it was left to these emplaced weapons to fight. The latest ship, yet another colony vessel, made it out of the warp point intact. Surprisingly it set a heading towards the satellites. As it closed in it launched small craft. The satellites, designed to fight such vehicles, opened fire with massed PD fire. The Enemy small craft were swiftly detroyed one by one as they appeared, but the orbital platforms could do no more than sit in space as the Enemy ship rammed each in turn. With the loss of each satellite the Enemy ship took more damage, especially to its engines, slowing it and thus taking longer to reach the next satellite, all the while launching fighters that swiftly fell prey to the weapons platforms, but eventually the last orbital weapon was destroyed. This left the Enemy ship disabled and it was soon destroyed as the defending craft returned. It dropped suvivors though, and as the warp point was under continuous attack there was no opportunity to reorganise.

After the destruction of the helpless Enemy advance force the carrier continued on to reinforce the defended warp point. Its course was interrupted as it encountered an Old Enemy colony ship. The Old Enemy was helpless, its colonies invaded and conquered at the Hives leisure. The only limiting factor being the need to divert forces to the defence against the New Enemy. Still a single colony vessel had broke through. Those that came before it had foolishly settled the defended system, and thus easily conquered. Having no more suitable planets it was trying to enter the New Enemy's space. When it encountered one of the Hive's carriers it was only a momentary inconvenience before it was destroyed, but it delayed the carrier reinforcing the defenders at the warp point. The defence had been succesful but every victory had brought losses. The Hive had developed new small craft, but it had taken time to build them. The warp point was now dangerously underdefended, and low on supplies. Finally reinforcements were ready, and they sped to the warp points defence.

The Arachnids were not what could be called individuals, but the Omnivoracity they comprised was not one single creature, albeit with billions of bodies. The "individual" arachnids acted together, but they acted together under the overpowering commands of the Hive intelligence. So although seperated by many systems, the controlling mind watched and controlled both wars simultaneously.

The war with the Old Enemy was no longer of overriding concern. It had become secondary the moment the New Enemy was encountered. The defence against the New Enemy was more important, and the resources the Hive committed to that war, leaving the Arachnids on the verge of startvation, comprised the bulk of their force. The Old Enemy was being combatted with whatever minor forces could be spared, but those minor forces had been sufficient. The Old Enemy continued to fail to react as world after world of theirs was attacked and conquered. The Mind looked over the latest conquest. Millions of Arachnids crawled across the smoking remains of yet another Enemy colony. The survivors of the attack, those Enemy that seemed incapable of fighting, were being rounded up. Plans were already underway to subdue the remannts of the Old enemy here in their home system. Reduced to a handful of worlds the only reason for their survival was that the Hive was limited in how much force they could afford. Gradually however the Old Enemy had fallen, and with each colony of theirs conquered the Arachnids were free to build new facilities on the ruins, sometimes in fact taking facilities from the Enemy. Thus although a minor front, it was providing more and more resources that could be devoted to the fight with the New Enemy. The longer the Arachnids held off the New Enemy the better they became able to fight that New Enemy and its better technology. The final battle and the taking of the Old Enemy's homeworld was nearing.

On the front with the New Enemy the latest attack had been dstroyed. Only a few remnants, a handful of small craft, were attempting to flee. they had escaped because the increased intensity of the battles had strecthed the Arachnids' supply lines. Low on fuel they could not immediately pursue the survivors. Reinforcements had arrived though, as well as new supplies, and the New Enemy seemed to have depeleted their available ships. No longer did they reinforce their attack, preventing the Arachnids from reorganising, and the defenders rejoined. They did not relax after their victory, in fact they could not relax. The Enemy existed, and while it existed it was a threat. The defenders preapred for any inevitable attack.

Since this talk of Old and New Enemies may be confusing you may be interested in their true identity

Old Enemy = Star Kingdom of Manticore (or at least what's left of it). I am aware of their origin, but only now I mention it do I realise we are both from David Weber books. Quite apt I think since I enjoy the books with the Arachnids, but despite efforts can't develop any interest in the Honor Harrington books. It gives me a bit of a thrill to realise I am responsible for crushing it.

New Enemy (In case you feel some sort of pity for them)= Daleks (although he spells it Darlek. Still their emperor is Davros).

Well I've tried reading the Honorverse books but they just don't pull me in. I gave up rather than spend more money on them. Everyone has different tastes. I'm thinking of giving the game a go though.

I also get tired of long series. I quit the Wheel of Time books because it was seemingly never going to end (and it turns out it won't). I like Harry Turtledove books and read the first few books of his Civil war/ww1/ww2 series but quit since they just go on and on.

The New Enemy's response was soon to come. It had been assumed the previous attacks had been the New Enemy's main effort and they would need to rebuild before launching another attack. It soon became clear this was not the case. The Hive had barely reinforced its defenders, restablished supply lines, when the Enemy attacked in even greater force. Although not as massive as the assault carrier which had failed to break through, the next alien ships were greater in number, 5,6, maybe 7 frigate carriers, highly armoured and willing to ram the defenders before their inevitable death. But the defenders low supplies and the numbers of enemy small craft now launched caused a result worse than anything before. The Hive was willign to spend as many resources as possible, expend small craft, as long as it achieved victory. But it had to achieve victory. In the past the carriers were destroyed and then the remaining Enemy craft could be dealt with. Now the battle ended and the Enemy held the warp point, and their carriers had survived. Not unscathed, but still able to move. One carrier ship was disabled and several heavily damaged. With its load launched one turned and retreated. The Hive had had hundreds of small craft defending the warp point. Half were lost in the initial attack. The other half still survived, but forced to combat the Enemy small craft could not bring their force to bear on the enemy carriers. Two carriers had been shadowed by defenders and many swiftly expended themselves, disabling one, and heavily damaging the other before they turned to fight the escorting small craft. Small craft darted and dodged around the warp point. The Enemy carriers used massed point defence to fight the defenders, but they still took damage. The previously disabled carrier was destroyed, the second drifted far from the warp point, but the heavily damaged one turned and retreated. Apart from their numbers the defenders held one major advantage, they could be resupplied in the system. The Enemy had realised this and their small craft devoted tonnage to extra supplies, but the vicious fighting was a drain, and the enemy, while inflciting major damage on the defenders soon ran out of supplies. By the end of the 3rd month, they had retreated 2 carriers, 3 had been destroyed and 2 remained, one floating dead in space. The numbers were now roughly equal. In the second border system the Enemy had launched another attack, only a minor one this time, a single carrier. This attack, mostly likely to hold in place the reinforcements already beign ferried to the main front, was swiftly destroyed, and its cargo destroyed with hardly any loss

On the main front reinforcements were already arriving. Having long been developed, even those worlds taken when the Old Enemy intruded, this system had no other purpose but to build small craft, and it sent them off to be expended. As long as they achieved results their loss did not matter. To the Arachnids at least.

Unpossesing of any thing that could be called a sense of self preservation, the Arachnid population was neither joyous of victory or hesitant of losses, but the fighting was growing, reaching a level unexperienced in the past, and it had a minor effect. As massive numbers of ships, manned heedlessly by Arachnid drones were lost, psychic shock ran through the Arachnids. It was momentary and caused no harm, although it was unknown what might happen if even greater losses developed. Arachnid herders, managing and culling the livestock gained by the systematic conquest of the Old Enemy, paused. On many worlds the cattle outnumbered the Arachnids. Crammed into overcrowded ranches they yelled and groaned, but it was irrelevant. As long as a population of Arachnids held the planet revolts by the livestock did not matter. They were long defeated and any resistance only ensured the leaders were culled next.

The rapid conquest of the the Old Enemy had one effect, many new worlds were conquered and their population controlled, but no Arachnid population had been swift to arrive. On a world populated by the Arachnids no resistance was possible, to escape would only leave survivors swarmed by the Arachnid population. Now the livestock observed the few herders controlling them halt, if only for a short while, the herding and choosing of stock needed to feed them. When their worlds had fallen the ones most likely to put up resistance had been culled, leaving only those accepting of their new resistance. Those who knew they were now just cattle, but accepted it. Now as their masters paused some took the opportunity to rise up in revolt. On one world, left to study, its resources being too sparse to supply materials, they quickly overthrew the alien consumers. Their revolt was inconvenient at best, already a ship was enroute with additional warriors to ensure control once again. For the mean time however they reduced the Hive's ability to learn, if only for a short time.

The Hive had fought off yet another attack. Despite the hundreds of fighters they deployed, and their many carrier ships, the Enemy was limited by the fact that they could not support their attack. Many times now they had managed to break in. Their small craft were becoming increasingly advanced, and they clearly had the support of other Enemy races the Hive had not met yet. But each time they broke in, each time they momentarily gained the advantage, it was through overwhelming firepower. They might inflict staggering losses but the the Hive thought nothing of expending as many small craft as needed. The Enemy might emerge victorious, although they had not yet managed to completely destroy the defenders, but their blaze of glory burnt deep into their supplies. Every time they used up their supplies and ordnance, only for a seemingly inexhaustible supply of reinforcements to arrive, and quickly destroy the now helpless attackers.

The Hive had no concept of something like luck but the fact that the two systems through which the Enemy could attack were neighbours, and a quirk of physics placed their warp points so close, was advantageous as it meant that not only could the system under attack devote all its resources to its defence but dozens of squadrons of small craft could be sent as reinforcements, ferried by freighters whose entire purpose was to carry the small craft through the warp point.

The Hive was only managing to hold off the New Enemy, doubtlessly they were fortifying their side even as they launched attacks. Unless they were indeed focussing all their resources on their failed attempts to invade. But the longer the New Enemy were held off the more the Old Enemy, trapped behind the Hive, fell. When the Hive had first encountered the New Enemy it had been weak. It was only the luck the Hive did not have a concept for that had allowed them to survive at first. Now they grew stronger and stronger, to the Old Enemy's cost. There now only remained two Enemy planets, their home world and a relatively small colony. The small colony could wait, its defences were ironically greater than the Enemy homeworld, and once that Homeworld fell then its defences could be left to deteriorate before being attacked. The Hive had grown strong, and the behaviour of the Old Enemy's ships, that were allowed to exist only because they provided an easy means to occupy new worlds, was growing aberrant, flying back and forth in the one area of space as the Hive watched. If the Enemy could no longer be relied on then there was no longer any reason to allow them to continue to be free. A large freighter, packed with warriors, lit its engines, turned and headed through space towards the Enemy's Home.

I think the Spore creature maker is built for us just to provide pictures for our races.

It's not really very complicated. In an Arachnids case I can easily remember its just a body with 8 legs, 8 eyes and a mouth. Good thing too because I can't load them. It says I have a race made but it won't show it now

It was becoming apparent. The livestock must die.

Not all of it of course, just the populations of certain planets.

The defence against the New Enemy was of prime importance, and so took up most of the thoughts of what could be considered the guiding intelligence of the Hive. Lesser aspects handled other tasks such as the economy, or the management of the livestock, and only rarely intruded upon the infintely more important need to ensure survival. In a "rational" being this was a recipe for what was delicately called a multiple personality, but for the Hive there was no other means imaginable. The Hive had just beat off yet another attack by the New Enemy. 5 carrier ships, nearly one hundred small craft, in one engagement. Not only was the attack decisively crushed but for once the Hive in fact managed to suffer less losses than the Enemy. Highly satisfactory. At the same time the economy was growing, reaching a stage where the production of resources was in fact outstripping demand. This was almost unsatisfactory as it meant that clearly manufacturing capacity was not optimised enough. To the Hive overproduction was as inefficient as underproduction. Still things were going well, and improving.

It was then, as the intelligence managed to rest and focus elsewhere that a problem became apparent. The recent massive expenditure had led to uprisings within the livestock corralled on many planets taken from the Old Enemy. This was not at first a matter of concern, and barely relevant. Let the livestock resist as much as it wanted, with a Hive population controlling them production was assured. Now however something became clear, production was assured but the effort it took to manage the livestock had a measureable effect on production. Calculations showed that rioting livestock reduced production by 20%. What's more their elimination would increase production an added 10%. A 30% increase in production, and it only required the elimination of the major proportion of livestock on each planet. A small number could be retained for supply purposes, but the amount needed was barely noticeable compared to the millions of superflous stock now shown to be detrimental. Production was already beyond that necessary but it could not be said how many resources would be needed in future. There was no reason not to, or at least the Hive couldn't imagine why it shouldn't, after all the practically assurred conquest of their homeworld soon would ensure an almost unlimited supply of new stock if needed, so as one the attendant warriors were instructed to begin their cull.

Well I retried the creature maker and it seemed to save it this time. I could even upload a video to youtube it seems. I think I can send the creature to other people if they have their own copy of the demo.

Here's their Sporepedia page

http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=srch-arachnids%3Asast-500001300879

I worked out why my first attempt failed. I had to register to have access to the spore site and it told me to validate via email and all that, but it gave me a free look before validating. I forgot about that and made my first version before trying to save it and sending myself a copy of the picture. Since I didn't validate the registtration it didn't exactly save them or send my message. Starngely enough I didn't validate anything and it worked the second time. I've done it now.

Anyway just to let anyone else who might try the demo know so they won't lose their first effort.

Karl Johnson worked away at his desk compiling data on traffic flow. It was a laborious job but the hours were regular and it paid well, and as a government position it was secure. It seemed that the government of late spent more time studying itself and the peoples movements than it did managing other things like migration or devleopment on the new colonies. Karl was only in a minor position so he didn't have access to higher management decisions but like everyone else he couldn't help but notice little discrepancies. As they had for years the governement dispatched colony vessels every month or so, but if someone were to look closely at news reports there was never any mention of supply efforts. The colonies were designed to be self sufficent but they would naturally do better were Homeworld to send things like additional colonists or ships, and yet Karl couldn't find any evidence of such missions. A friend of his, Taylor Smith, had been on one of the colony flights and though the governement had warned it might be some time before contact was established that had been a year ago and Karl hadn't heard from him since. He tried not to let his worries take control of him, but instead went on with his work.

It took a lot of concentration to make sense of the figures he was compiling and so he failed to notice any sounds from outside. Eventually however a roaring became apparent. The lights in his office had also come on. Through hard work, and various promotions, Karl had managed to obtain a office with a window, now he glanced outside and saw it was dark. He glanced at his watch, it was only 2pm. This along with the roaring led him to believe there was a storm, but he couldn't see any rain. He pushed his seat back and stood up, moving to the window he peered out. There was no rain. Below him he could see crowds of people streaming through the streets. Looking up he saw the sky was filled with ships. In fact you could not make out the sky there were so many strange almost organic ships descending.

Aliens!

But surely the government would have mentioned alien life. What if they were hostile? if so Karl wondered for a moment why the local weapon platforms didn't open fire, but of course there were no local weapon platforms. They had been dismantled and put on board one of the early colony vessels. One of those never heard of again. No!

He ran out of the room and down the hallway, peering into each office block. The workers there had already fled. He ran into the management office. No one was to be seen. He even looked into the Government minister's office. No one. Where was the management? why had no one done anything to prevent what was happening. He stumbled over to the large window taking up one side of the office room and looked out. Some of the ships had landed, overhead dark ominous fighters sped past. In the distance he saw explosions, buildings were tumbling. Then he looked down. One of the landing craft was opening. As Karl watched dark forms swarmed out.

He screamed.

The subjugation of the old Enemy's Homeworld was anticlimatic. Of course observation had shown it was suicidally undefended. Even as the Hive occupied colonies in the system the Old Enemy did nothing, except send out more colony vessels. The Hive had planned for years the conquest of the Home of the Old Enemy. Its vast size and native population had been the only thing to leave it safe as other, minor, colonies were conquered. So when the Hive chose to act it did so with its usual preparation, the application of such vast force that victory was guaranteed before any attack was launched. 18 million warriors swarmed over the planet. As well the Hive had complete air superiority. The large amount of defenders, still only half the number of attacking warriors, fought but outnumbered and freely attacked from the air their doom was inevitable. The Planet fell in less than a month, and even before the attack finished fresh stock was collected and dispatched to replace those the Hive had been driven to eradicate. Perhaps it was their being unfamiliar with their new existance but the new stock was calmer and more controllable than the old ones that had begun rioting and thus only hastened their culling. Delivered as fresh supplies to other colonies they did not reduce production as the others had. It was a fact the Hive would make sure to remember.

On the major war front the New Enemy had ceased their attacks, at least in noticeable force, and if only for the meantime. One attack was launched in the secondary system, by the Hive's standards it was no more than a reconnaisance in force. A single carrier, easily destroyed, and then only a few dozen small craft. However it gave the Hive an opportunity to test the new units.

As the Enemy had attacked the more important system accesible via the first warp point, small craft had been sent as reinforcements. This had reduced the number of defenders but to replace them new units were deployed. Now as the Enemy small craft powered up they found themselves in close proximty to slightly less than half their number of orbital weapons platforms. Each was armoured and armed with capital ship sized point defence. They too in turn powered up. The Enemy turned to attack, but soon met a wave of firepower so far unmatched in the vicious fighting between the Hive and the New Enemy. Hundreds of small craft had been expended, and massive firefights had been waged but these had been spread out. Now only slightly more than two dozen satellites opened fire. The Enemy craft were swept from existance as if by a giant burning hand, lasting no more than a few seconds. They did manage to return fire, destroying one platform, but that was all. They were totally annihilated, taking no more than two or three other craft with them, and in the chaos of battle it was likely they were no more than solitary assault boats expending themselves.

The New Enemy decided to launch further attacks, along with those scattered incidences that were impossible to explain. It couldn't really be possible that small groups of the Enemy could intrude where their ships could not, and sabotage Hive vessels. Nonetheless two orbital bases reported their engines were halted. The hatchings there were quickly recycled. How could stationary vessels have their movement restricted? Meanwhile a cargo vessel was hit by not one, but two bombs. Damaged and venting its cargo it turned back to the nearest base.

The New Enemy launched two conventional attacks. Before the first there were a handful of survivors from a previous small attack. Less than two dozen they were outnumbered nearly twenty to one. Their destruction was assured but the need to attack them caused a tactical flaw, all the worst for the fact it was obvious. Moving to the outer limits of the sector holding the warp point would remove the defenders ability to react swiftly should a further attack appear. The Enemy must be destroyed however and so the defenders moved to intercept.

So the follow up attack was no surprise. Five Enemy frigates appeared from the warp point virtually unopposed. Having been eradicated before by the weapons platforms orbitting the warp point when they used small craft, the Enemy now instead used capital ships which could not be targetted by the satellites point defence. Bombarding the satellites in return they destroyed several before the defenders returned. By necessity small craft such as fighters or assault boats were swifter than gunboats and so reached the warp point first. Weathering massive PD fire the assault boats, not knowing any other way, expended themselves. Weaving threough a firestorm the small craft rammed the frigates. Even as the small crafts' debris drifted into space the damage inflicted began to heal, due to the alien armour the Enemy clad their newest ships in. It was imprtant to finish the Enemy ships before they were compeletely healed, or the first attacks would be in vain, so ship after ship sacrificed themselves. By the time the gunboats returned only two Enemy ships were left and they were swiftly destroyed by rocket fire and the expenditure of several last assault boats. The loss of 90 small craft was costly, but reinforcements were readily available and already ordered to reinforce the remaining defenders. They were, however, already in danger of being obsolete.

On the other front the Enemy launched a second attack. This time instead of five frigates it comprised a single destroyer. Half again as armoured as one of the new frigates, and with twice the firepower it could have caused significant damage, although in this case the close proximity of gunboats would have hastened its demise. The defenders however did not engage. The destroyer emerged from the warp point, awaited the defenders attack, and when it did not occur set a course out. Into a minefield.

The Hive had long forseen a time when the Enemy's superiority would outmatch the defenders, so a long program of development had created mines. Almost the same size as a gunboat or fighter, they required no engines, no crew, and what was more important concentrated their power to destroy the Enemy before it could offload its cargo. It was a pity in this case that the first victim was a capital ship and so no cargo of fighters was destroyed, still the mines had proven themselves in their first application and there were already plans to place more.

In the next month the New Enemy increased the number of their inconvenient hidden attacks. It continued to be impossible that they could be occurring, but they were. The attacks were no more than annoyances, lately nothing more than minor glitches in Orbital station engines and bombs exploding onboard transports but failing to actually destroy anything. One colony vessel had its fuel supply depleted but it quickly joined with other units to share fuel. Although the atatcks contained evidence of the New Enemy it could only be that livestock of the Old Enemy were working for them. Only minor annoyances it was decided to take countermeasures before they got worse.

It was true the Old Enemy continued to survive uncontrolled but most of what was once their population were now controlled. One original colony survived, watched by two of their former colonies, and they were starting to colonise planets again with ships only allowed freedom because of the possibility, now coming true, that they would indeed colonise those planets, to be conquered as soon as they were established. Clearly a new intelligence had arisen from the ruins of the Old Enemy, one now willing to act. A substantial number of their small craft had launched an attack, and though driven off it was at the cost of heavy losses. Due to the recent interference however it was impossible to find how such losses occurred. Resources were diverted towards the final defeat of the Old Enemy. They had now outlived their usefulness, having provided access to all their accessible native environments.

On the other border the New Enemy was to be faced with a choice. Their discovery of the Hive's newly developed space mines had resulted in the loss of one of their destroyers. To the Hive the Enemy's options were clear, halt further attacks until they had countermeasures, or launch a sudden attack with available vessels in the hope of breaking through before such mines were placed on the other access point. The New Enemy made the wrong one.

Six warships, a carrier/colony vessel, three organic frigates, and two new vessels using crystaline technology, emerged from the second warp point. Two were destroyed outright by the mines now in place. One was the carrier and it did not even manage to launch its cargo of almost four dozen units of small craft. the remaining four were not destroyed outright but instead emerged as derelicts, venting atmosphere and almost helpless. Some point defence clearly managed to survive, as shown by the loss of a handful of defenders, but the hulks were easy targets and quickly destroyed.

It was logical to assume the New Enemy would have learnt its lesson. The Hive should now have some time to develop further, perhaps begin plans to strike back. Meanwhile there was the matter of the Old Enemy and their new willingness to fight back. They would need to be dealt with, once and for all.